Julie Bishop calls on Nauru to respect freedom of speech

Daniel Flitton, Michael Gordon

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop: “Parliamentarians are encouraged to engage in robust political debate for it is the contest of ideas that underpins democracy." Photo: Andrew Meares

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has called on Nauru to “uphold fundamental values of a robust democracy” after the government on the tiny Pacific nation moved to censure dissenting MPs.

Nauru’s government has taken the extraordinary step of suspending a trio of opposition parliamentarians over comments made to international media.

Justice Minister David Adeang defended the suspension on Thursday, saying the opposition had sought to “inflict maximum damage to Nauru’s reputation”.

The opposition trio have been critical about government actions in recent months, including the deportation of the chief magistrate in January and a subsequent decision by Bendigo Bank not to establish a branch on the island.

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But Ms Bishop has weighed into the issue, encouraging the Nauru government to respect freedom of speech.

“Parliamentarians are encouraged to engage in robust political debate for it is the contest of ideas that underpins democracy,” Ms Bishop said.

Nauru is host to an Australian-run immigration detention centre, and Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the Parliament was clearly unstable and “should not be responsible for a multi-billion dollar detention camp with women and children locked inside”.

The Parliament sat again on Thursday and one of the three opposition MPs, Mathew Batsiua, who had been overseas when the suspension was made, was ejected from the chamber after making a short statement.

Mr Adeang said earlier accused another of the three suspended MPs, Kieren Keke, of deliberately inflaming tensions on Wednesday by refusing to leave his seat and rallying supporters “to incite a riot” outside Parliament.

Dr Keke, a former foreign minister, told Fairfax Media a scuffle broke out inside Parliament after about 20 police entered the chamber and several other parliamentarians sought to protect him.

Mr Adeang defended the suspensions and on Thursday denied this amounted to censorship.

“There is a place to argue your point and that is here in the Parliament. These MPs have done what no other country would deem acceptable – use the foreign media to trash our international reputation,” Mr Adeang said in a written statement.

“They were suspended due to their deliberate attempts and damaging comments to foreign media undermining the good work of the [President Baron] Waqa government to introduce Bendigo Bank to the island.”

The government has previously prevented local media from broadcasting comments of opposition MPs after they sought to criticise a deal with Australia to allow refugees to settle on Nauru.

Each of the three opposition MPs have spoken to Fairfax Media in recent months - along with Nauru government representatives.